The Healthiest Way To Cook Mushrooms

Author: Karen Lennox Time for reading: ~1 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022

Frying and cooking greatly reduce the amount of nutrients in cooking mushrooms, only grilling leaves them accessible.

Mushrooms can be a great side dish to any dish. They can be added fried to salads, cooked with pasta or just stewed in butter and aromatic spices to taste their flesh.

However, according to a study from Spain, the above methods of cooking mushrooms can destroy their beneficial nutritional qualities.

A 2017 study published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition reported that mushrooms are healthiest and healthiest when lightly grilled or simmered. Frying and cooking greatly reduce the amount of nutrients in them.

Mushrooms are one of the few natural sources of vitamin D , do not contain fat and are a valuable source of dietary fiber . They also contain excellent amounts of selenium , a useful mineral that is rarely found in plant foods. Mushrooms are also an excellent source of B vitamins and beta-glucans - biologically active substances associated with the action of the immune system.

Cooking them is easy and adaptable - the fleshy texture and mushroom aroma can be the right addition to vegetable or meat dishes. However, according to the Spanish study, in order to preserve the listed useful properties, mushrooms should not be boiled, fried or heated in a microwave oven. These actions lead to the breakdown of most protein structures that carry or build beneficial nutrients.

The only exceptions are the concentration of polyphenols and their antioxidant power - still inexplicable to scientists, but after heating in a microwave oven - they increase instead of decrease.

Experts advise that when choosing mushrooms, they should have open, hard caps. Their stems should be juicy and fleshy, slightly moist to the touch, but there should be no mucus present.

Marinating in balsamic vinegar does not damage the nutritional value of mushrooms. With or without marinating, they should not be exposed to high temperatures for more than 3-5 minutes and in any case should not be swallowed mushrooms that have black, tanned parts - charred protein is proven to be carcinogenic.

The Healthiest Way To Cook Mushrooms

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